“It’s a very simple plan,” Mr. Grayson said in an after-hours speech on the House floor Tuesday, unveiling a poster next to him that read in red and black capital letters, “The Republican health care plan: Don’t get sick.”

“But I think that the Republicans understand that’s not always going to work,” he added. “If you get sick, America, the Republican health care plan is this: Die quickly.”

His theatrics raised Republican ire and prompted Representative Tom Price of Georgia on Wednesday to write a resolution formally disapproving of Mr. Grayson’s statement, calling it “a breach of decorum.”

One big difference from the resolution criticizing Mr. Wilson for shouting “You lie” during President Obama’s address to Congress earlier this month: Mr. Price held off on introducing his rebuke when he got to the House floor Wednesday.

After huddling with Republican leadership, Mr. Price thought better of the idea, deciding to give Mr. Grayson a second chance to apologize. Of course, no matter how much the resolution galvanizes their compatriots, it would receive no attention from Democratic leaders, who control which bills make it to the floor and which die in the hopper.

Mr. Grayson said on Wednesday that he had no plans to apologize and that he had not been asked to do so by Democratic leaders.

(Less than two hours later, Mr. Grayson offered an apology of sorts. His remorse was not for Republicans, rather for the dead, he said, comparing the existing health care system to the Holocaust.

(“I apologize to the dead and their families that we haven’t voted sooner to end this holocaust in America,” he said on the House floor Wednesday afternoon.)

Forging ahead with Mr. Price’s bill may have also diluted another Republican-led condemnation expected on the floor next week, one aimed at accusing Representative Charles Rangel of ethics violations.

Still, the threat has its appeal for Republicans. Mr. Grayson is a freshman Democrat, who won a very competitive race in Florida’s eighth district with just 52 percent of the vote in 2008. Calling him out as a liability could hurt his chances for reelection in 2010.

Mr. Grayson said he didn’t think that this fight would hurt his chances at re-election. “It improves them,” he said. “People like elected officials with guts who say what they mean.”

Another key difference: Mr. Grayson was not interrupting the president. Republicans point out that unlike Mr. Wilson’s supposedly spontaneous outburst, Mr. Grayson’s remarks were clearly planned well in advance — or at least with enough time for Mr. Grayson’s aides to make it to Kinkos for some props.

Take Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.), who said in July: “Last week, Democrats released a health care bill which essentially said to America’s seniors: drop dead.”

Or Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), a doctor, who reviewed the public health insurance option in July and diagnosed that it is “gonna kill people.”

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), not one to pull punches, suggested on the House floor that Congress “make sure we bring down the cost of health care for all Americans and that ensures affordable access for all Americans and is pro-life because it will not put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government.”

July was a busy time for House floor death sentences. Also that month, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), noted: “One in five people have to die because they went to socialized medicine…I would hate to think that among five women, one of ’em is gonna die because we go to socialized care.”

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) had a similar assessment. “They’re going to save money by rationing care, getting you in a long line. Places like Canada, United Kingdom, and Europe. People die when they’re in line,” he said on the House floor in July.

Is this worse than interrupting the President’s nationally televised address to a joint session of congress to call him a liar? As I recall not a single Republican voted to reprimand Joe Wilson. Petty payback is all this is.

congressman grayson is telling the truth and he should not be censored or rebuked for telling the truth.health care is a human right.what kind of a nation would deprive another human being of health care ? health is wealth.how many in the congress and senate were it not for them being elected could afford private health care ? wealth and reace are the two biggest factors in health care.that is why there is such a debate.slaveowners did not debate the health of slaves.they knew a sick slave was bad for businerss.now a sick person is an asset to the bureacracy of the medical field.the game is the same only the name is diffrerent. whoever heard of closing hospitals in a nation ? ” as you sow so shall you reap.”

Universal Health Care is a Civil Rights issue. Health Care is not a privilege, it is a right. And it is a right that is being denied to millions and millions of Americans at this very moment. If the above statement is true, and I believe that it is, then where is the public outrage? Health Care is this generation’s Civil Rights issue. But, compare it with past Civil Rights issues won in the United States. Compare it with, for example, Women’s Suffrage, giving women the right to vote. Women were marching in the streets and carrying banners. They were organizing and holding protests all over the United States to win the right to vote. How about the Civil Rights movement for African Americans? We fought a war over that one. Then there were the sit-ins, protests, marches and speeches of the 1960’s before African Americans were recognized as being equal under the law.

Obama, Pelosi and Reid and doing their best to push the Health Care boulder up a mountain but it’s not easy. If Health Care for All is going to succeed it won’t be the politicians that make it happen, it will be the public that demands it. When this groundswell of belief becomes a tidal wave of discontent, the votes will be found in the House and the Senate to pass the bill. Politics has always worked that way in the United States, the votes in the House and the Senate reflect the mood of the country.

Where are the marches and protests in Washington? Where are the millions of people crowding the National Mall in Washington to hold our leaders accountable? Where are the candlelight vigils? How about the nationwide candlelight vigils? Hold one vigil in Every Major City in the United States on the same day at the same time. Where are the speakers at the National Mall and across the nation? Those people who have identified themselves as the Leaders of this huge movement. Those experts who have identified themselves as tired and frustrated with the status quo. Where are the people with the credentials and experience who voluntarily step forward and address the millions in a public platform? Every major Civil Right movement has had a Public Servant lead the movement and become the face of the movement. Who is the face for the Universal Health Care movement? It can’t be a politician, they only respond to the public’s requests. Where is the Susan B. Anthony of this generation? Where is the Martin Luther King Jr. of this generation? The movement doesn’t even have a Website. The movement needs to become a groundswell, the groundswell needs to become a Tidal Wave, and the Tidal Wave needs to become a Tsunami. Then, Washington will follow the Leaders. The Leaders are the People.

Hah! Good, quick thinking JP. That’s the cherry atop the sundae of denials and fabricated “death panels” that ignorant people keep buying into, fed by the very same indolents who are complaining above. Cheers!

Yes, I think Rep. Alan Grayson is safe from having to apologize for HIS remarks because there have been so many Republican representatives who made similar remarks way before HE did. It’s about time the Democrats grow a spine and fight back the vicious vitriole that has prevailed all summer from the Republican side, so I congratulate Rep. Grayson for taking the lead.

Thank you JP — Seriously, how can the NY Times post this without detailing the sheer hypocricy of the GOP? We had an entire summer of death panels and the NY Times does not feel the need to compare and contrast and put it into perspective.

The GOP will raise a hissy fit non-stop, it will then go to Drudge and Beck, and then finally you will have the public editor of the NY Times doing another mea culpa because they did not cover this story fast enough and with enough lines of print.

Nevermind they ignore the hypocricy of the ACORN story and of Grayson’s comments!!!

The Bozo Republican was bursting forth his ignorance spontaneously. If he wants to tell the other side they’re liars, you must have the floor. He was chastised for being a jerk at the wrong time. He can be a jerk during his own time when he is recognized on the floor. The insult was to rules of order..

Rep. Grayson was just on the House floor (on C-Span) saying he will only apologize to the 47,500 dead Americans who died because they did not have health care. He pointed out that 47,500 is 10 times the number of troops who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan and who died on 9/11. He will NOT apologize to the House and the hypocritical Republicans who have been accusing President Obama and the Democrats of wanting to ration health care, “pull the plug on Grandma” and have been using vicious rhetoric to scare senior citizens into not trusting their President and their Congress to do the right thing. These are the same politicians who were never FOR Medicare or Medicaid and yet they are now conning people into believing that THEY really care. It’s despicable!

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